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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Soniah Kamal, recently guest edited issue #43 of Sugar Mule, an online literary magazine, the theme of which is "No Place Like Home."

Born in Pakistan and raised in England and Saudi Arabia, she came to the U.S. for her undergraduate degree and earned a B.A. in Philosophy with Honors from St. John’s College Annapolis, MD. Soniah’s undergraduate thesis, an analysis of individual against society as seen in love and arranged marriages, was the recipient of the Susan B Irene Award. Soniah will be starting her MFA from Georgia State University in August 2013 and has been awarded the Paul Bowles Fellowship in Fiction.

Soniah is co-Vice President of Programming for the Atlanta Writers Club, a 100 year-old organization with 800 + members. She is also literary correspondent for ArtsATL, Atlanta’s premiere online destination for the arts, and is also published in many other literary journals.

Soniah provides valuable insight into the life of a writer, an editor, and an MFA candidate. Suprose thanks Soniah Kamal for taking the time to answer questions for our Tête-à-Tête despite her busy schedule.

Why did you choose to become a writer?

Photo Credit: Soniah Kamal

The Polite Answer: I think writing
chose me in so far that, as far back as I can remember, I was always telling
stories to myself and others. Novels, essays, reporting, op-ed: growing up we
all read (or at least schools force us to) and so writing is all powerful in
shaping who we become.

The Answer Under the Polite Answer:
I wanted to act; my parents didn’t think acting was a respectable profession and
so forbade me. Since I’d always been writing, I continued. For a while though I
had a very contentious relationship with writing: traditionally women have been
‘allowed’ to write because they could do so from behind ‘purdah’ as well as publish
under a male pseudonym. In effect they would have a voice and yet be voiceless.
I was disappointed that I had, despite living in the late 20th
century, allowed myself to be relegated to a purdah of sorts. Thankfully I got
over that.

Who/what did you read growing up?

For a long time I attended an
International School in Saudi Arabia where the library was chockfull of both
British as well as American classics and contemporary works. Along with
Blyton,Blume, S.E. Hinton,
Shirley Jackson, L.M. Montgomery, Edith Nesbit and Dorothy Parker, I also
borrowed from friends stories of Baba Yagah and Arabian Nights and comics like
Amar Chitra Katha and myths from Nigeria, Norway, Japan, Greece, as well as
Anne Frank, The Silver Sword and A Town Called Alice.Once I returned to Pakistan it was all Austen, Hardy,
Shakespeare, Donne, Keats etc with as many Urdu stories translated into English
as I could find back then: in fact my most favorite was a collection of 13
short stories by assorted writers such as Krishan Chander, Rajinder Singh Bedi
and Ghulam Abbas. Those 13 stories changed my world! I read Tolstoy,
Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Langston Hughes and also Harold Robbins, Jacqueline
Susan, Barbara Cartland, Georgette Heyer, a lot of Philosophy Books which I
didn’t understand– In Lahore the bookstores were treasure troves of used books
and I’d fill my arms and bring them all home! There was no such thing as
‘highbrow-lowbrow’ in my vocabulary and that remains true to this day.

You recently edited the South Asian themed issue of the
literary e-zine Sugar Mule. What did you find most challenging?

My guest edited issue ‘No Place Like
Home: Borders, Boundaries and Identity in South Asia and Diaspora’ was an
interesting challenge on many levels but by far having to read each of the 47
contributions (including my own) 12 to 15 times was tough.I have since a new found respect for editors
of novels and other 300 plus page tomes: to read a book multiple times with fresh
eyes definitely requires a certain stamina!

What were some of your parameters in choosing works by South
Asian writers?

Often journals/editors putting
together special issues concentrate on one region i.e. for instance recently
Granta had a Pakistan Issue and World Literature Today had a Bangladesh Issue.
I wanted to include India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the same space
on the same page. Also when most South Asians hear ‘partition’, they tend to
automatically think of 1947 and the division of a land into India and Pakistan.
I wanted to stretch‘partitions’
to include other divisions and so there are pieces on the 1971 war between then
East and West Pakistan, as well as the split between an Indian Bengal and
Bangladesh, and an Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab. But I also very much
wanted to explore the borders and boundaries we experience internally be it
from conflicts arising from estrangements, deaths, loves, friendships, betrayals,
sexuality, immigration—conflicts as well as reconciliations— so I accepted
submissions that would showcase these experiences. All the pieces had to
ultimately speak to me and with the memoir instead of adhering to a strict
‘follow the story’ trajectory I opted to let the contributors ‘follow the
memory’, literally have the pieces serve as memory-keepers.

What stood out for you in all the submissions you received?

The great variety of topics
and also how forthcoming and brave the contributors are in sharing their stories,
memoirs and poetry about living in refugee camps, racism and sexism, coming of
age sexually and/or religiously, ethnic tensions, and dealing with deaths of
loved ones, of nationalisms, of ideals. The settings were also so varied from
small villages to urban sprawls in U.S., England, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka. Being a writer means embracing the courage to dig deep within
yourself and then share with others what you found within and all the contributions
have done exactly that.

You are a writer and an editor. How does one compliment the
other?

Sometimes it doesn’t. It is
symbiotic however in so far that as a writer I am aware of what I may think is
missing in someone else’s piece and then the editor hat kicks in because I can
voice exactly what I think is missing and make suggestions although ultimately
I always tell the writers I edit that they have to go with what feels right to
them even if it’s not the ‘popular’ or ‘conventional’ choice. For instance recently
I was editing the first fifty pages of a client’s novel. He had a prologue and
wanted to keep it because he likes reading prologues. The editor in me told him
that he could do without it, or if he kept it, it had to be really relevant to
the whole. However the writer in me told him that he had to be true to himself,
that it didn’t matter whether he’d read that ‘prologues are out’ or that
editors and agents are not fond of them: nothing is written in stone and if you
are a good writer you can make even the out-of-vogue work.

Why did you choose to go to school for an MFA, many get
published without this degree?

I know there is always controversy between doing or not
doing an MFA, between whether writers turn into robots writing a certain MFA style
story, whether it’s all a scam. I’ve been writing for years by my lonesome and
I think had I joined an MFA program back then I would have perhaps learned
aspects of craft it took me years to learn through trial and error— cooks go to
cooking school, actors go to acting school, musicians go the music school— I
don’t see what the big deal is if writers go to learn to write. Talent is good
but training, discipline and commitment is also very good and I feel an MFA
with its deadlines and workshops and critiques supplies the latter as well as a
community i.e. you are not alone in believing that storytelling is an important
and relevant act.

As for getting published I can
attest that it’s absolutely not a requirement since without an MFA I’ve
published short stories and memoirs pieces in many anthologies and journals.

What advice would you give to aspiring MFA candidates?

Advice I’d give all writers: take
all the odd jobs you can—the more you live, the more you will have to write
about. Know that early success, if success comes at all, comes to very few. Define
what success means to you. Write a story you are proud of. Not every book is
going to be turned into a film. And if it is then not every film is going to
win the Oscar. Remind yourself that you write because something about the
process keeps you riveted. You write because you don’t like the way the world
is and so you turn it into a fair and just world on the page. You write because
you believe that reading feeds the hungry soul and so you are a chef of words.
Know that there is so much rejection in this field that you may as well take a
sandpaper to your fingertips and then sandpaper your bloody fingers again and
then go on typing. Rejections hurts but rejection is not the end of the world.
It is not. It is just one agent/editor/judge’s opinion. That said have the
humility to recognize good craft advice when given. Learn to walk the line
between hubris and humility: I’m a decent
writer/There is always something to learn. Do not let petty people get you
down. If someone takes the trouble to inform you that ‘you are never going to amount
to anything’ smile and thank them for their opinion. If someone take the
trouble to inform you that ‘you are the best writer ever’ smile and thank them
for their opinion. Do not get dejected. The internet has opened myriad
opportunities to be heard so do not be dejected. Unless it is your choice do
not let the beast called social media devour you. It might be true that those
who market themselves best win the race, or it might not—but there is no way
you can even really enter unless you spend time writing your novel, memoir, short
story collection, poetry chapbook- not just one but the next one and then the
next one. Blogging is not a waste of time just don’t let it take up all of your
time. Spend time twittering, facebooking, linking-in and google-plusing and
every other ‘Look At Me!!!! I’m Here Too!!!’ that’s out there but do look at
yourself from time to time and ask: is the writing getting done?Remember your only competition is
yourself—not your friend who writes, not your enemy who writes, not your fellow
countryperson on yet another awards list, not the books already on the
shelves—but only yourself—can you outdo the last thing you wrote?

Write for publication because it
makes you happy to share the voices in your soul otherwise just keep a journal.

How would you recommend they prepare for the application
process?

Send in your best writing samples.
Of course. Write a personal statement that says why you want to write and why
you think writing is important. For recommendations, ask those who can attest to
your being a hard worker and a good team player. If they are not familiar with
your writing, send them your samples so that can also say how much they like
your writing!

What are your dreams and goals on the writing front?

To find time to write all the novels
and stories that live within me. To be able to impart the thrilling adventure
that is reading to everyone I come across.

Who are some of your favorite writers, contemporary and
classic? Why?

I don’t necessarily have favorite
writers rather favorite books which have stayed me for various reasons—tone,
style, a masterful structure or storytelling. In classics- The Return of the
Native by Hardy, Emma by Austen, The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, Reena and
Other Stories by Paule Marshall, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. Flannery O’
Conner’s short stories—Good Country People is a favorite, Bernice Gets a bob by
Fitzgerald and The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin- also great favorites. The
Lottery by Shirley Jackson. Myriad short stories by Urdu writers but in
particular Mahalakshmi Ka Pul by Krishan Chander and Anandi by Ghulam Abbas.

As for contemporary—too many but
certainly Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, Helen Simonson’s Major
Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Sadie Jone’s The Outcast, Rohinton Mistry’sA Fine Balance, M.G, Vassanji’s The
In-Between World of Vikram Lall, Julian Fellowe’s Snobs, I love the following
short stories:A Spoiled Man and
In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin, A Piece of Cake by Talat
Abbasi,Broken Transformers by Bi
Shumin, Fairy Tale by Robert Olen Butler and Nipple Jesus by Nick Hornby.

What are some books that you read recently that you would
highly recommend? Any new authors, any unusual books, ones that you found
inspiring, both South Asian and otherwise.

I do have a perennial favorite by
Cheryl Benard called ‘Murder in Peshawar’ (formerly published as Moghul
Buffet). Originally published in 1998 when there was barely anything South
Asian let alone Pakistani on the shelves, it’s a smart and funny murder
mystery.

I’ve recently finished are
Unterzakhan my Leela Corman and Habibi by Craig Thomson. I’m so in awe of
graphic novelists (especially once I read Michael Chabon’s ridiculously
inspiring novel ‘The Amazing Adventures of Kavelier and Clay)—and I can’t help
but think of the original story tellers drawing their bisons and spears on
caves. How I wish I could draw!

I also love Moni Mohsin’s laugh out
loud, wry but yet so true satire ‘Diary ofa Social Butterfly’ and its sequel ‘Tender Hooks.’ I have to
say I loved Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers, Kamila Shamsie’s Burnt
Shadows.

What would I find on your to-read pile right now?

Too much because I want to read
everything I set my eyes on but at the moment ‘A Woman of Substance: the memoirs of Begum Khurshid Mirza edited
and compiled by Lubna Kazim’. ‘While We
Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax’. ‘Green Darkness by Anya Seton’. “Nisei
Daughter by Monica Sone.’ ‘The Newly
Weds by Nell Freudenberger’. ‘Native
Land by Nadja Tesich’. ‘The Decline
and Fall of the Ottoman Empire by Alan Palmer’.‘The Arrogant Years
by Lucette Lagnado’. Sister Citizen:
Shame, Stereotypes & Black Women in America by Melissa V. Harris-Perry.